Review: My Antonia by Willa Cather

Here is a summary of My Antonia from the Reading Group Guides website:

Perhaps the most popular of Cather's novels, My Ántonia is at once the intimate portrait of an American heroine, an elegy for a vanished frontier, and the story of an unconsummated love affair. Jim Burden, the narrator, meets Ántonia Shimerda as a child on the Nebraska prairie. He is an orphan and a Protestant, she the daughter of ill-adapted Bohemian immigrants; her father will kill himself when he is broken by the harshness and solitude of their new home. Jim and Ántonia grow up together, and he harbors vague and contradictory romantic yearnings toward her. But they are separated in their youth and spend most of their lives apart. While Jim pursues his education and becomes a lawyer for the railroad, Ántonia goes into domestic service, survives a near-rape, is seduced and abandoned by a heartless lover, and bears a baby out of wedlock. Much of her story unfolds secondhand, as Jim gathers it from other sources. They are reunited only briefly at the novel's end, and by then both of them are married, Jim unhappily so.

What is it that makes Ántonia a genuinely heroic figure? Partly, it is her ability to emerge undiminished and unembittered from circumstances no less bleak than the ones that killed her father, to improvise happiness in the same way she once improvised stories. In the course of the novel, Ántonia also becomes an embodiment of the narrator's memory, which has the power to withstand time and redeem its losses. Of course, it is not only Jim's memory that is in play: Ántonia represents all the strength, resilience, and unselfconscious nobility of a decisive moment in our nation's past. The virtues that Cather associates with her heroine have either become obsolete or have receded into our collective unconscious, but the sight of her is enough to reawaken our memory of them: "She lent herself to immemorial human attitudes which we recognize by instinct as universal and true....she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture that somehow revealed the meaning in common things." [p. 258]

My Review:
What a beautiful classic novel this was, laced with Bohemian traditions and vivid descriptions of the landscape.  I will admit that at first this book was a bit difficult for me to read, but once I decided to lock myself away without any distractions I became immersed in the pages.  Although the story is about Antonia, I think it is more about how Antonia impacted Jim Burden's life.

Jim lived with his grandparents on a farm in Nebraska and his life seemed to change when Antonia moved to a neighboring residence with her Bohemian immigrant family.  He becomes very close with Antonia and her brother and can only imagine that they will be friends for many years to come.  Antonia's mother is portrayed as a very greedy woman and vocally shares her inhibitions with her neighbors.  When times get tough for the family the greed and selfishness seems to spread to her children and this creates a feud of some sort between Jim and Antonia that will last for a couple of years.

When Jim's grandparents become too old to manage the farm they move to the city to live.  Jim starts to attend school in the city and is introduced to a new set of friends.  He sees that an element is missing from these friendships compared to the relationship that he had with Antonia.  So you can only imagine his happiness when he learns that Antonia is going to also be moving to the city to work as a servant for a home nearby.  Their friendship picks up again as if there were never an argument of any kind in the first place.  

Lena is another important character in this novel.  She becomes a good friend of Antonia's and you can see that she definitely has a much wilder streak about her.  Jim worries that Lena will take Antonia down the wrong path and just be a very bad influence on her.  I found it very interesting how Cather portrayed both Lena and Antonia when they were young girls, and then as adults.  

The story was heartbreaking in the sense that you could feel the love that both Jim and Antonia felt for each other, but they never acted upon their feelings. When the book ends Jim seems to come to terms with the direction that his life has taken and how Antonia had affected it.  When he catches a glimpse of the life and love in Antonia's eyes at the end of the novel that is all he needs to know that they both had taken the right paths.

This book was so much more to me than a classic novel with beautiful descriptive writing.  Many of you know that my Grandma recently moved in with me and she is also Bohemian.  So as I was reading this book it juggled memories of her life and stories for me.  I could see so many comparisons with the Bohemian traditions that it truly amazed me.  I found it interesting how Antonia had such a close relationship with her father, as my Grandma's father/daughter relationship was similar.  My Grandma will still tell you to this day about the hollyhocks that she grew by her house in the summer.  This was a beautiful story and it also created a great book club discussion for my group.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  I borrowed this book to read for my own entertainment. 

Review: A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal

Here is a summary of A Lucky Child from the Hachette website:

Thomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir A LUCKY CHILD. He arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. Separated first from his mother and then his father, Buergenthal managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.

Now dedicated to helping those subjected to tyranny throughout the world, Buergenthal writes his story with a simple clarity that highlights the stark details of unimaginable hardship. A LUCKY CHILD is a book that demands to be read by all.

My Review:
This is a wonderful memoir that Thomas Buergenthal has created that not only gives us a glimpse of what it took for him to survive during such a vicious period of history, but also how these events helped to make him into the man that he is today.  Buergenthal does a great job of sharing how his emotions changed from fear, to anger, and eventually forgiveness once he was able to finally heal.

The title of this book comes from the idea that Thomas' mother truly believed that he was a lucky child because of what a fortune teller told her many years before.  After reading some of the things that Thomas had to endure throughout his ordeal, it is definitely hard to disagree with her.  Isn't it curious that when he was in Auschwitz a boy that he slept with on the same bunk came down with diptheria, while Thomas never showed any symptoms at all?  Considering how young he was and having a low immune system I find this to be a miracle in itself.

Before the Holocaust, Thomas' parents own a beautiful hotel that was very profitable.  When his father learns what the Nazi regime is doing to Jewish families and businesses he decides to sell everything so they will have enough money to live on and hopefully not draw any attention to themselves.  Of course they do not expect the extent of power that the Nazi's will have, because before they know it they have spent all of their savings and find they have no other choice but to move into one of the ghettos.  They are thankful to be around friends again, but eventually realize that they will be taken away to a work camp.

After living at Auschwitz for some time, Thomas does become separated from his parents and will not know for quite some time if they are even alive.  His creativity, intelligence, and wits help him to survive the abuse of the German guards and from being selected by Dr. Mengele for experiments.  How such a young, innocent child could survive these conditions and the Auschwitz Death March is amazing to me...and once again lucky.

Buergenthal admits to us early in this book that there are many events that he does not recall as he decided to write this book very late in his life.  He shares that it may have been difficult to write about his Holocaust experience shortly after it happened and it may have taken him longer to recover.  But his experiences did help to shape him into the person that he has become and be a very active and successful human rights lawyer.

I appreciate how Buergenthal honestly shared his feelings and emotions with us, especially his state of mind after the war was over.  When he was still a young boy and living in liberated Germany he wanted revenge on many of his German neighbors with such a fierce intensity.  He cannot understand how these same people just a couple of years before would not even look at him on the street and now they smile at him as nothing had happened.  Once he is able to deal with his feelings he shares the shame that he felt for the vengeance that he so desparately wanted at that young age.  Here is an excerpt from page 163 where he talks about struggling to stop this vicious cycle:
It took me much longer to realize that one cannot hope to protect mankind from crimes such as those that were visited upon us unless one struggles to break the cycle of hatred and violence that invariably leads to ever more suffering by innocent human beings.

I am so thankful to Thomas Buergenthal for taking the time at this stage of his life for putting together this memoir for us.  Not only does it give us a glimps as to what he had to endure, but also how he dealt with his conflicting emotions.  I could feel the different stages of healing and forgiveness among the pages and this obviously helped him to become the person he was meant to be.  This book includes a map and a few pictures that help you feel a little closer to his family and what a cute young boy he was!  I highly recommend this book!

My Rating:  5/5

Disclosure:  This book is from my personal collection and I read it for my own entertainment.

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Review: Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts

Here is a summary of Made in the U.S.A from the Hachette website:

The bestselling author of WHERE THE HEART IS returns with a heartrending tale of two children in search of a place to call home.

Lutie McFee's history has taught her to avoid attachments...to people, to places, and to almost everything. With her mother long dead and her father long gone to find his fortune in Las Vegas, 15-year-old Lutie lives in the god-forsaken town of Spearfish, South Dakota with her twelve-year-old brother, Fate, and Floy Satterfield, the 300-pound ex-girlfriend of her father. While Lutie shoplifts for kicks, Fate spends most of his time reading, watching weird TV shows and worrying about global warming and the endangerment of pandas. As if their life is not dismal enough, one day, while shopping in their local Wal-Mart, Floy keels over and the two motherless kids are suddenly faced with the choice of becoming wards of the state or hightailing it out of town in Floy's old Pontiac. Choosing the latter, they head off to Las Vegas in search of a father who has no known address, no phone number and, clearly, no interest in the kids he left behind.

MADE IN THE U.S.A. is the alternately heartbreaking and life-affirming story of two gutsy children who must discover how cruel, unfair and frightening the world is before they come to a place they can finally call home.

My Review:
As I started reading Made in the U.S.A, I couldn't help but let a smile cross my face as another tramatic event takes place in the local Wal-mart store.  I love how she always seems to weave the Wal-mart stores into her stories.  Even though the store has a very small appearance, it really sets off a chain of events that will change Lutie and Fate's lives forever.

Lutie and Fate are a brother and sister that have not had the opportunity to live a life full of love and family.  After their mother died years ago, their father seemed to hook up with any single gal that would take him and his two children in, knowing that she would be there to take care of them so he could drink himself into a stupor.  One day when their father doesn't return, it isn't much longer until they realize that he is not coming home at all.

When life-changing events take place, Lutie decides that the only thing left for her and Fate to do is to find their father so he can take care of them.  Their quest takes them to the streets of Las Vegas, which as you can imagine is not the best place for a couple of young kids with no home or money to spend any time.  They find themselves living out of a car and Lutie is doing all that she can to save money to get themselves a reasonable apartment so Fate can at least be enrolled in a decent school.  What she is earning is not enough, and she finds herself having to resort to unimaginable jobs to make the money that is needed.

As Lutie and Fate seem to be just getting by day after day, it appears that they have a secret guardian angel that enjoys leaving them little gifts that are greatly appreciated.  When events take a turn for the worst, their guardian angel comes to their rescue, and while revealing his identity he also saves them from imminent danger.  In the process of saving the children, in a way they are also saving him.  I love how he needed these children to heal his wounds as much as they needed him to heal theirs.

Although I throughly enjoyed this novel, there were pieces that were definitely hard to read.  The hardest part of this book for me was watching these children live in a way that didn't allow them to be children.  With themes of abandonment, growing up, forgiveness, and love, this book will stay in my memory for quite some time.  I feel that I should warn you that there is some offensive language in these pages, but the story itself is well worth the read.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This book is from my personal collection and I read it for my own entertainment.

Fall Into Reading Challenge Completed!

Katrina at Callapidder Days  hosted the Fall Into Reading Challenge this fall and I am excited to say that I completed this challenge before the end date of December 20, 2009!  I'm very excited to have finished this as I thought I was cutting it pretty close and for awhile I wasn't sure if I could pull it off.  Here is what I read for the challenge:

1. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin--Completed 10/3/2009
2. The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walters--Completed 10/7/2009
3. A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve--Completed 10/22/2009
4. Made in the U.S.A by Billie Letts--Completed 11/1/2009  (Review coming soon)
5. Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran--Completed 11/14/2009
6. My Antonia by Willa Cather--Completed 12/1/2009 (Review coming soon)
7.  Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger--Completed 12/10/2009
8. A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal--Completed 12/13/2009 (Review coming soon)

My absolute favorites from this list were:
Three Cups of Tea
Cleopatra's Daughter
A Lucky Child

If you are interested you can click on the title to see my reviews, unless of course I haven't posted it yet.  Thanks to Katrina for hosting this fun challenge!

Review: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Here is a summary of Her Fearful Symmetry from the Regal-Literary website:

Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers – normal, at least, for identical “mirror” twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cozy suburban home.  But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn’t know existed has died and left them her amazing flat in a building by Highgate Cemetery in London.  They feel that at last their own lives can begin... but have no idea that they’ve been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the OCD-suffering crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt’s mysterious and elusive lover who lives below, and to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the mother of the girls – her own twin – and who can’t even seem to quite leave her flat....   

My Review:

I still haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife by Niffenegger so I went into this book not really knowing what to expect from the author.  What I found was not only a ghost story, but the result of keeping secrets buried for a lifetime between twin sisters who gave up on their relationship years ago.  This book was full of beautiful, descriptive writing of London and gave you a vivid glimpse into the Highgate Cemetary.

Elspeth has lived her entire life in a flat next to the Highgate Cemetary in London, where her deceased family rests. When Elspeth dies of cancer within the first few pages of the book, her spirit finds its way back to her flat and cannot seem to leave that area.  In her will, Elspeth left all of her belongings to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina, with the condition that they live together in her flat for at least a year with the stipulation that their parents must never set foot on the premises.  It is definitely curious as to why Elspeth would leave such a valuable lot to a couple of girls that she has never known and with such strict stipulations.

Julia and Valentina have lived their lives in Illinois with their parents, Edie and Jack.  Edie is Elspeth's twin but since they became estranged many years before, they have hardly had any contact since she left London years ago.  Edie's twin daughters have done everything in their lives together, including attending the same college.  If college life wasn't working out for one of them, both of the girls would return home.  So it isn't a surprise when they decide that they will head to London to live in Elspeth's flat together.

The twins find life in London exciting as they realize they can do basically anything that they wish since Elspeth left them plenty of money for expenses.  Although they do everything together you start to get the sense that both want to branch out and explore their own personal interests and longings.  Julia wants to sit back and enjoy life while Valentina wants to continue her education.  With both girls wanting to pursue different endeavors that means that they would have to continue their life journey separately, and neither one is quite sure of taking this drastic action.

After the twins are living in the flat for awhile, Elspeth finds a way to communicate with them.  They find comfort in getting a chance to know the aunt that they never had a chance to know before.  I enjoyed this part of the book because I do believe that there is a very powerful spiritual realm out there.  While certain events occurred that made the occurrences more realistic, the book seemed to take a turn that really was a bit too far out there for me.  It's not that I didn't like where it was going, but maybe just unsure of it (if that makes sense). 

I enjoyed getting to know all of the characters that were in this novel.  Elspeth's boyfriend Robert happened to live in the flat below the twins and Valentina was able to befriend him in a way that helped him recover from losing his love.  Martin lived in a flat upstairs from the girls and after his wife left him he seemed to sink deeper into his OCD disorder.  Julia became a confidant to Martin and eventually helps him to get his life back on track.  I think it was interesting how the girls reached out to others and helped them find a piece of themselves that they didn't know existed-life without their twin by their side constantly.

The writing in this book flowed so nicely and I appreciated the vivid descriptions that were provided of both London and the Highgate Cemetary.  If you enjoy a good ghost story without being scared to death then you will probably enjoy this book.  Neffenegger is obviously a very talented author and I do plan on reading The Time Traveler's Wife yet, even though I have already seen the movie. 

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me from Amanda at Regal-Literary in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Here is a summary of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time from the Penguin website:

The inspiring account of one man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia.

In 1993 Greg Mortenson was the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2, an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan’s Karakoram Himalaya. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time—Greg Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.

Award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin has collaborated on this spellbinding account of Mortenson’s incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are often feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself. At last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools. Three Cups of Tea is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world—one school at a time.

My Review:
For being a person that does not read much non-fiction because I just don't usually enjoy it, I will tell you that this book gripped my heart and I'm sure it has earned a place in my memory as one of the most important books that I have ever read.   I know there are many missionaries and organizations out there trying to help people in war-tattered and underdeveloped countries, but Mortenson's personal mission seemed to me to be the most unselfish and heartfelt account that I have heard in quite a long time.

It was purely accidental when Mortenson luckily stumbled into the Korphe village in Pakistan.  Exhausted from physical exertion, the people in this village nursed Mortenson back to health.  When he finally awakens from his slumber and starts to spend some time getting to know the villagers he learns that the children come last as far as governmental spending goes.   His heart breaks from the knowledge that the children in this village will never have the opportunity of an education that is so easily given in America.  This starts the beginning of his mission as he promises the Korphe leader, and his new friend, Haji Ali, that he will return to this village to build a school.

Mortenson didn't come from a family blessed with unlimited amounts of money and he worked very hard as a nurse to earn his way.  He returned to the United States so he could work as much as possible to save money for the Korphe school.  He lived in such a frugal manner that he even slept in his car some evenings.  He found himself feeling guilty if he were to spend any of his money on himself rather than saving it for the school.  Even after saving every penny that he is able to earn, he accepts the fact that it will just take too long for him to earn enough money to buy the materials for the school, so he starts to solicit funds from outside organizations.  From his efforts he is able to share his vision with a few individuals that also see the importance of his cause so he is able to return to Pakistan sooner than he had originally expected.

The roadblocks that Mortenson endured along the way could have easily swayed the average person.  I can only imagine how he felt when he returned to Korphe with the ability to build the school, only to learn that before they build the school they have to erect a bridge!  I could feel his frustrations when he learned of this, knowing that his project was going to be postponed for probably a year.  But he seemed to collect his emotions and resolve the matter by figuring out what they needed to do to build a bridge.

We learn a lot about the Balti culture and traditions from Mortenson's experience. Just conducting normal business was so different from the quick customer service that we receive here in the United States.  Haji Ali taught him that it is just as important to build relationships as trying to accomplish daily tasks.  Here is what Haji Ali shared with Mortenson about respecting their ways by sharing three cups of tea from page 150:
"The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger.  The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest.  The third time you share a cup of tea you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die," he said, laying his hand warmly on Mortenson's own. 

Once Mortenson was able to embrace this slow paced way of life, his efforts in the area thrived.  Village leaders seeked out Mortenson hoping that he would want to build a school in their villages.  Mortenson made it quite clear to the Pakistanis that he wasn't looking to change their way of life, but only provide the children with a balanced education.  Here is an excerpt from page 209 that explains why Mortenson thought it so important to educate the girls:
"Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities," Mortenson explains.  "But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they've learned.  If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls."

Mortenson was building a school in Pakistan when the attack on the Twin Towers took place on 9/11.  I can only imagine the danger he was in by being an American citizen in that land, but he had built strong relationships with people that were willing to put their lives on the line to protect him if necessary.  Mortenson made a trip to Capitol Hill shortly after 9/11 to share the work that he has been doing and what he had learned about terrorism.  Here is an excerpt from page 292 about what he shared with a congressman:
"I've learned that terror doesn't happen because some group of people somewhere like Pakistan or Afghanistan simply decide to hate us.  It happens because children aren't being offered a bright enough future that they have a reason to choose life over death."

I think I could probably go on about this book all day long, as it really touched my heart in a way that I can't explain.  Mortenson's work continues as he heads the Central Asia Institute that helps to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  This story brought tears to my eyes as I think of how Morteson put his life on the line to help these children.  If you are interested in learning more about the work that Greg Mortenson has done, please check out the Three Cups of Tea website.

I read this book with my book club and we all were very inspired by it and I would definitely suggest this book for other book groups.  We have been trying to think of a way that we might be able to help Mortenson with his mission so I will be sure to post an update once we make a final decision on that.  I will end this review by saying this is the first non-fiction book that I have absolutely loved and I also want to thank Mr. Mortenson for his continuing and selfless work that he does for these children!

My Rating: 5/5

I just had to include this picture of Greg Mortenson reading to the children, because he always has the biggest smile on his face when he is around kids.

Review: Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

Here is a summary of Cleopatra's Daughter from Michelle Moran's website:

The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s vengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt.  Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome, but only two—the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander—survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.

The fateful tale of Selene and Alexander is brought brilliantly to life in Cleopatra’s Daughter. Recounted in Selene’s youthful and engaging voice, it introduces a compelling cast of historical characters:
Octavia: the emperor Octavian’s kind and compassionate sister, abandoned by Marc Antony for Cleopatra
Livia: Octavian’s bitter and jealous wife
Marcellus: Octavian’s handsome, flirtatious nephew and heir-apparent
Tiberius: Livia’s sardonic son and Marcellus’s great rival for power
Juba: Octavian’s ever-watchful aide, whose honored position at court has far-reaching effects on the lives of the young Egyptian royals

Selene’s narrative is animated by the concerns of a young girl in any time and place  —the possibility of finding love, the pull of friendship and family, and the pursuit of her unique interests and talents. While coping with the loss of both her family and her ancestral kingdom, Selene must find a path around the dangers of a foreign land. Her accounts of life in Rome are filled with historical details that vividly capture both the glories and horrors of the time. She dines with the empire’s most illustrious poets and politicians, witnesses the creation of the Pantheon, and navigates the colorful, crowded marketplaces of the city where Roman-style justice is meted out with merciless authority. 

Based on meticulous research, Cleopatra’s Daughter is a fascinating portrait of Imperial Rome and of the people and events of this glorious and tumultuous period in human history. Emerging from the shadows of history, Selene, a young woman of irresistible charm and preternatural intelligence, will capture your heart.  

My Review:
This was a wonderful story that started with the reign of Cleopatra and Marc Antony in Egypt and brought us to Rome under Octavian's rule.  There was so much history within the pages of this book that I think it took me a little longer to read this one, as I wanted to let the information sink in rather than read through it so quickly that nothing stayed with me.

When the story begins, Cleopatra's kingdom in Alexandria, Egypt, is just being taken over by Octavian.  We don't get to know Cleopatra too much as she quickly meets her demise early in the novel.  After Octavian takes control of the Egyption kingdom, he decides to take Cleopatra and Marc Antony's children to Rome and raise them in a way that will benefit his future plans.  Alexander and Selene are twins that were born to Cleopatra and this story is told from Selene's point of view.

When the children are ripped from the only life they've ever known, they consider themselves prisoners that will never be able to make their own decisions again.  Octavian seems to be a ruthless ruler so they dread what may be awaiting them in Rome.  When they do arrive they are quite surprised to find that Octavian's sister Octavia, plans on having them live with her.  Lucky for them they find that Octavia is a very compassionate woman and treats them as well as if they were her own children.  This does seem to spark a tinge of guilt between the twins because they know that their father, Marc Antony, was married to Octavia many years before but had left her to be with their mother Cleopatra.  They can visually see the love that Octavia still felt for Marc Antony and can only respect her compassionate attitude that much more.

After the children are captured they are informed that they will be told who to marry when they turn fifteen years old.  So not knowing what they should appreciate in life, they live their lives day to day.  They find themselves with good, solid friendships and attend school on a regular basis.  Selene is able to indulge in her love of art by becoming a student of a very well known architect and eventually is able to help with some major building projects and leave her mark on Rome.

During their time in Rome a rebel who calls himself the Red Eagle is against almost everything that Octavian is trying to accomplish.  Whenever a judgment is passed down that would hurt the citizens of Rome, the Red Eagle would react in a way that was visible to all.  Octavian knew the Red Eagle was hurting his political stance, so he would do anything to try to catch this rebel.  Many events take place during the novel that make Selene think that the Red Eagle may be living right under their very own roof.

I really don't want to give too much of this novel away as it does have a touch of a mysterious element to it.  I loved learning what daily life was like for the children of Rome and the feeling of the romance that gripped Selene's heart.  I would love to read more about Selene's life after she married and started a new life.  I am also very thankful to all of the helpful items that Michelle Moran included in this book.  She included a glossary, a time line, a couple of maps of Rome, and a list of the characters that also described how everyone was related.  These were very helpful tools and the book probably took me a little longer to read because I stopped and used these tools often.  Historical fiction readers are going to love this book so if you are ready to indulge yourself into the Roman Empire I definitely recommend this novel.

My Rating: 5/5

Disclosure:  Thanks to Michelle Moran for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

Here is a summary of A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve from the Hachette Book Group website:

Margaret and Patrick have been married just a few months when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure-a year living in Kenya. Margaret quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn't know about the complex mores of her new home, and about her own husband.



A British couple invites the newlyweds to join on a climbing expedition to Mount Kenya, and they eagerly agree. But during their harrowing ascent, a horrific accident occurs. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Margaret struggles to understand what happened on the mountain and how these events have transformed her and her marriage, perhaps forever.

A Change in Altitude illuminates the inner landscape of a couple, the irrevocable impact of tragedy, and the elusive nature of forgiveness. With stunning language and striking emotional intensity, Anita Shreve transports us to the exotic panoramas of Africa and into the core of our most intimate relationships.

My Review:
Before I even read this book, I had already noticed several mixed reviews.  I have found that for the most part, I usually enjoy Shreve's work so I decided to give this one a shot.  Although I will confess that this book wasn't one of my favorites by Shreve, I did find some enjoyment throughout the pages.

Margaret and Patrick are newlyweds that have decided to start their lives off together by spending some time in Africa.  As a doctor Patrick finds himself very busy and working quite long hours, while Margaret is a photojournalist and was not working for quite some time after they arrived in Africa so she found herself getting quite frustrated with her mundane lifestyle.  They don't have many friends in the area, so after being alone all day Margaret is starving for people to be with.  So it really wasn't a surprise when after meeting Arthur and Diana they dive right into a friendship with people they hardly know for the feeling of companionship.

After several outings together, the two couples decide to take on the challenge of climbing Mount Kenya together.  Little do they know that climbing this mountain will change all of their lives forever.  After the tragedy on the mountain they return to their lives in a way that pushes the events of the climb to the far recesses of their minds.  Even though Patrick doesn't want to talk about what happened on the mountain, Margaret is haunted by the memory and can't understand why she can't seem to go on with her life when the others don't seem to have a problem.

One thing that I have always liked about Shreve's writing is that she always seems to spin a story about realistic people.  I can't say that I liked Margaret or Patrick's characters, but I think that is one of the reasons that I did enjoy this book.  In real life I don't like everyone that crosses my path, so why would I expect that in a book?  I do admit that I would have liked to get to know Margaret a bit more throughout the story.  But then when I consider how young Margaret actually was in the story, I can't help but ask myself how much more could she have offered as a character?

Throughout the story Margaret struggles with the guilt that the tragedy on the mountain was her fault.  It doesn't help when her husband openly admits that he also blames her for the events that took place.  For me, this story was about Margaret finding her true self by seeking forgiveness mostly from her own mind and emotions.  It is only when she accepts herself that she will be able to move on and find her place in this world.

I want to thank Miriam from Hachette for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you are interested in viewing more work by Anita Shreve please check out her website here.

My Rating: 4/5

Here are some other reviews that you may want to ponder:
Laura's Reviews
Bibliophile by the Sea
she reads and reads
A Novel Menagerie
Peeking Between the Pages

Blog Tour and Review: The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter

I would like to give a huge Thank You to Trish from TLC Book Tours for inviting me to be a part of this tour!  This was a great story that really swept you away in this downward spiral of one man's life.

Here is a summary of The Financial Lives of the Poets from the Harper Collins website:

In the winning and utterly original novels Citizen Vince and The Zero, Jess Walter ("a ridiculously talented writer"—New York Times) painted an America all his own: a land of real, flawed, and deeply human characters coping with the anxieties of their times. Now, in his warmest, funniest, and best novel yet, Walter offers a story as real as our own lives: a tale of overstretched accounts, misbegotten schemes, and domestic dreams deferred.

A few years ago, small-time finance journalist Matthew Prior quit his day job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse. When his big idea—and his wife's eBay resale business— ends with a whimper (and a garage full of unwanted figurines), they borrow and borrow, whistling past the graveyard of their uncertain dreams. One morning Matt wakes up to find himself jobless, hobbled with debt, spying on his wife's online flirtation, and six days away from losing his home. Is this really how things were supposed to end up for me, he wonders: staying up all night worried, driving to 7-Eleven in the middle of the night to get milk for his boys, and falling in with two local degenerates after they offer him a hit of high-grade marijuana? 

Or, he thinks, could this be the solution to all my problems?
 
Following Matt in his weeklong quest to save his marriage, his sanity, and his dreams, The Financial Lives of the Poets is a hysterical, heartfelt novel about how we can reach the edge of ruin—and how we can begin to make our way back. 

My Review:
I want to start my review by saying that to be totally honest with you, when I started this book I didn't think that I would enjoy it at all.  But I found that once I reached the second chapter that I couldn't put this book down!  This novel is very timely considering the state of our economy right now, and I could realistically see how easily a story like this could happen to anyone.  In a sense this book reminded me of The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III, in that circumstances were just spinning out of control because of one bad decision.

Drug use usually does turn me off, but in this book it seemed so fitting and realistic to me.  Who's to say that if the average American is in similar circumstances to Matt's, unemployed, in debt up to his eyeballs and a week from losing his house, that if the opportunity arose he or she wouldn't smoke a little marijuana?  Nothing else seemed to work for Matt up to this point, so what did he have to lose?  So when Matt meets a couple of guys late one evening at the 7-11, they welcome him back to a way of life that he left behind in his college days.

Matt knows that his home life is falling to pieces.  As he tries to take care of his father that is suffering from dementia, still send his children to a private school while being unemployed, and try to monitor his wife Lisa's online flirtatious behavior with her old boyfriend Chuck, he just doesn't know how much more he can deal with!  After another late night outing at the 7-11 Matt thinks that he may have a temporary solution to his financial problems, but what looks like a quick fix to his dilemma may turn his problems into the worst nightmare he could possibly imagine.

If you read the summary above, you can see that Matt's failed business had to do with crafting poetry from financial journalism.  He obviously wanted to try to keep the poetry alive in his life, so snippets of verse were inserted in various parts of this novel.  Some of the poems were very thoughtful, raw, and honest, while others were just downright hilarious!  Here is a snippet of one of his poems from page 41 when Matt is contemplating when exactly moms started wearing thongs:
And that is the issue I will run on
when I eventually run:
Getting our moms out of thongs
and back into hammocks
with leg holes
the way God
intended.  

This book is such a good reminder that we really do need to appreciate the things that we do have.  It will make you think that maybe what you have now is really all you need, so why do we always want more?  By wanting and getting more we are actually setting ourselves up for failure if a crisis should occur, as it had for Matt.  Here is an excerpt from page 98 where Matt admits where he went wrong:
And my disappointment is not that my own home has lost half its value.  What disappoints me is me-that I fell for their propaganda when I knew better, that I actually allowed myself to believe that a person could own a piece of the world when the truth is that anything you try to own ends up owning you.


There are so many twists and turns for Matt as we follow him through his life during this time, but they are well worth it.  When Matt compares life in general to the game "Jenga", meaning that it could all fall apart at any time, it made me stop and think how true that is for so many Americans right now.  This book is well worth reading and may help you to re-assess your own lifestyle.  I highly recommend it, but also I feel that I need to disclose that there is a fair amount of drug use and profanity that I know many readers do not appreciate.  To find out more about Jess Walter and view his other books please check out his website.

My Rating: 4/5

**Excerpts are taken from an Uncorrected Proof copy so they may be different in the final print version.
This book was provided to me to review as part of the TLC Book Tour.  You can view all of the stops for this tour at the TLC Book Tour website here.

Fall Into Reading Challenge 2009

Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting the Fall Into Reading Challenge that is running from September 22nd to December 20th.  I've decided to join this challenge as I've found this is a great way to help me stick to those review commitments that I have.  Here is the list of books that I will be reading for this challenge:

1. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin--Completed 10/3/2009
2. The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walters--Completed 10/7/2009
3. A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve--Completed 10/22/2009
4. Made in the U.S.A by Billie Letts--Completed 11/1/2009
5. Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran--Completed 11/14/2009
6. My Antonia by Willa Cather--Completed 12/1/2009
7. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger--Completed 12/10/2009
8. A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal--Completed 12/13/2009

If this challenge sounds interesting to you please check out the complete rules and sign up to join in on the fun
here. I will be updating this post with my progress.